Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor
C4
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2017
World
Kim Jong-Nam killed by ‘serious paralysis’ K UALA LUMPUR―The autopsy results on Kim Jong-Nam suggest he was killed by “very serious paralysis” due to a lethal nerve agent, Malaysia’s health minister said Sunday, as the airport terminal where he was assassinated was given the all-clear. The estranged half-brother of the North Korean leader would have died “in a very short period of time”, Health Minister S. Subramaniam added. Malaysia revealed Friday that the 45-year-old victim was killed with the VX nerve agent, which is so deadly it is listed by the UN as a weapon of mass destruction. Police are holding two women suspected of staging the attack as well as a North Korean man. They want to speak to seven other North Koreans including a senior embassy official, but four of the suspects fled Malaysia on the day of the murder.
The two women can be seen shoving something into Kim’s face in leaked CCTV airport footage of the brazen February 13 attack. He later suffered a seizure and was dead before he reached hospital. Nerve agents prevent the proper operation of an enzyme that acts as the body’s “off switch” for glands and muscles. Without that switch, glands and muscles are constantly being stimulated, eventually tire and become unable to sustain breathing. Subramaniam told reporters the cause of death was now “more or less confirmed”. The scene of the killing, the
budget terminal of Kuala Lumpur International Airport, was swept by civil defense personnel in hazmat suits overnight before being declared safe. Police sealed off large areas of the Terminal Two departures hall as a few curious onlookers watched. “The police cordon was at three areas—the scene of the attack, the bathroom where the two female suspects washed their hands and pathway leading to the airport clinic—[and] has been taken down,” a police spokesman said. The operation came almost two weeks after Kim’s death and puzzled some travelers. Student Hariz Syafiq, 21, who was due to take a domestic flight later, told AFP: “Yes, I’m worried a bit. Why didn’t they quarantine the airport? “It’s a bit strange.” Both women suspected of carrying out the attack insisted they thought they were taking part in a prank video, although Malaysian
police have said they knew what they were doing. One of the two female suspects in custody, 25-year-old Indonesian Siti Aisyah, reportedly told a senior diplomat Saturday she had been paid just 400 ringgit ($90) for her role, adding she believed she was handling a liquid like “baby oil”. The other woman, Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, 28, told Hanoi officials she had been tricked into killing Kim and thought she was taking part in a prank for a comedy video. Indonesia’s deputy ambassador to Malaysia Andreano Erwin, who was granted consular access to Siti Saturday, reportedly said she did not know Huong. Police have said one of the women arrested after the attack fell ill in custody, adding she had been vomiting. However, Erwin said Siti was physically healthy while Vietnamese officials said Huong was “in stable health”. AFP
REHEARSALS. Actress Amy Adams during rehersals for the 89th An-
nual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on February 23, 2017, in Hollywood, California. AFP
Terminal where he died given all clear KUALA LUMPUR―The Kuala Lumpur airport terminal where Kim Jong-Nam was assassinated with a lethal nerve agent was given the all clear Sunday, as two women suspected of carrying out the attack insisted they thought they were taking part in a prank video. The scene of the brazen February 13 killing of the North Korean leader’s half brother was swept by civil defence personnel in hazmat suits overnight, after Malaysia revealed Friday the victim died from VX nerve agent which is so deadly it is classified as a weapon of mass destruction. Two women can be seen shoving something into Kim’s face in leaked CCTV airport footage of the ambush. He later suffered a seizure and was dead before he reached hospital. One of the two female suspects now in custody, 25-yearold Indonesian Siti Aisyah, reportedly told a senior diplomat Saturday she had been paid just RM400 ($90) for her role, adding she believed she was handling a liquid like “baby oil”. The other woman in custody, Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, 28, told Hanoi officials she had been tricked into killing Kim and thought she was taking part in a prank for a comedy video. Police sealed off large areas of the terminal’s two departures hall where the attack was carried out ahead of the sweep for traces of the highly potent toxin as a few curious onlookers watched. Authorities later declared the area safe after nothing harmful was found. “The police cordon was at three areas—the scene of the attack, the bathroom where the two female suspects washed their hands and pathway leading to the airport clinic—(and) has been taken down,” a police spokesman said. The operation came almost two weeks after Kim’s death and puzzled some travellers. Student Hariz Syafiq, 21, who was due to take a domestic flight later, told AFP: “Yes, I’m worried a bit. Why didn’t they quarantine the airport? “It’s a bit strange.” Indonesia’s deputy ambassador to Malaysia Andreano Erwin, who was granted consular access to Siti Saturday, said she did not know Huong according to reports. AFP
Massacre victims demand justice
ONSTAGE. Bassist Hugh McDonald of Bon Jovi performs with guitarist/producer John Shanks at T-Mobile Arena on February 25 in Las Vegas. AFP
White Helmet workers will not attend Oscars BEIRUT―Rescue workers from Syria’s White Helmets group - the subject of an Oscar-nominated documentary—will not attend this weekend’s Academy Awards ceremony because of intensified regime bombing and a rejected passport. Raed Saleh and fellow White Helmet member Khaled Khatib had been set to attend Sunday’s ceremony in Hollywood, where “The White Helmets” is shortlisted for best short documentary. “After 3 days at airport, not allowed to travel to #oscars2017 had US visa - but passport not ac-
cepted. Sad, but important work to do here,” Khatib tweeted Saturday from Istanbul. US Customs and Border Protection spokesman Michael Friel said that “individuals need valid documents to travel to the United States,” declining to comment further. Earlier, Saleh told AFP he wasn’t going because of a heavy workload “due to intensified regime strikes on the provinces of Damascus, Daraa and Homs.” “There are many things that have to be done on the ground, such as managing operations and providing emergency vehicles,”
he added. Khatib, who shot much of the footage, had obtained a US visa but cited the same reasons earlier for not traveling. “I won’t travel to OSCAR due to intensity of work, our priority is helping our people,” he tweeted in English. “I was going to leave on Tuesday, but there was too much work because of the bombing,” Khatib told AFP by telephone. “I’m also working on producing another film about the White Helmets that has to be ready in two weeks. I will not go.”
The two rescuers had feared they could be barred from attending the ceremony because of US President Donald Trump’s late January executive order imposing a 90-day entry ban for citizens of seven Muslim majority countries, including Syria. The ban has since been lifted by a US federal court, and on February 18 the pair received their visas. More than 310,000 people have died since Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011, and more than half of the country’s citizens have been forced to flee their homes. AFP
TAIPEI―For Pan Hsin-hsing the sight and smell of lilies held a particular horror for many years -- the pungent flowers decorated the room where his executed father lay before the funeral. He was just six years old when Pan Mu-chih, a doctor and local politician, was arrested, tortured and killed in a 1947 massacre that was the precursor to years of political purges in Taiwan, known as the “White Terror”. A last note from his father was scribbled on a cigarette pack given to him by a sympathetic jailer and smuggled out to the family. “Don’t be sad, I die for the residents of our city. I die with no regret,” it read. On Tuesday, Pan will speak at a national commemoration for the victims of the crackdown by troops under nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek, whose Kuomintang party governed Taiwan at the time. On behalf of many who lost loved ones, he will call for longdelayed justice. Pan’s father was a critic of the KMT and was killed by a firing squad alongside other local politicians in southern Chiayi city, where there were anti-government riots. Those riots were part of islandwide civilian unrest which started on February 28, 1947, after an inspector beat a woman selling untaxed cigarettes in Taipei. The immediate crackdown on protesters is estimated to have killed up to 28,000 people. Pan also lost his 15-year-old brother, who was shot after going out to look for their missing father. The family pretended the young boy had committed suicide for fear of repercussions if they told the truth. Another of his eight siblings held their dying father in his arms after finding the train station where the execution took place, says Pan, his voice cracking. The body was brought to their family’s clinic, where he had worked as a doctor, and laid out in the waiting room so people could pay their respects. Pan says another of his brothers and a sister were jailed for months as “communist spies”, several of his siblings have struggled with depression. For years, he associated lilies with that terrifying time. AFP